Former leading New Zealand publisher and bookseller, and widely experienced judge of both the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Montana New Zealand Book Awards, talks about what he is currently reading, what impresses him and what doesn't, along with chat about the international English language book scene, and links to sites of interest to booklovers.

Author and journalist Michael Wolff is coming to the UK this
month to promote Fire
and Fury (Little, Brown), the bestselling exposé that
caused a presidential melt-down earlier this year, seeing its US publisher
Henry Holt & Co threatened with legal action.

The €20,000 EBRD Literature Prize, launched by the British
Council and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, has
revealed its inaugural shortlist, including titles from Turkey, Croatia,
Russia, Albania and Lebanon.

The 13th Winter Institute, held by the American Booksellers
Association in Memphis, Tennessee, was vibrant and upbeat as ever, despite
an underlying current of anxiety regarding the sustainability of
independent booksellers.

A week ahead of its paperback release, Gail Honeyman’s Eleanor Oliphant is Completely
Fine leapt into the Weekly E-Book Ranking number one, trumping Fire and Fury and
seeing off the (Michael) Wolff from the door.

Ex-soldier and novelist Jan Morris CBE has been recognised for
her outsanding contribution to travel writing by The Edward Stanford Travel
Writing Awards, while Kapka Kassabova was honoured with the Stanford Dolman
Travel Book of the Year for Border (Granta).